Khabib Nurmagomedov retired early as a fighter, seemingly with a number of significant fights left in him. Now, it appears heās doing the same as a coach.
Nurmagomedov shared an Instagram post in Russian that indicated heās leaving the sport. Javier Mendez, the coach at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, California, confirmed to Yahoo Sports Nurmagomedovās plans to retire. Mendez coached Nurmagomedov to the UFC lightweight title and then led Islam Makhachev to the belt coaching alongside Nurmagomedov.
Mendez said Nurmagomedov, who has two boys and a girl, has been away from his family a great deal. Mendez told Yahoo Sports that Nurmagomedov simply wants to spent time with his his family.
āHe just doesnāt want to miss being a father,ā Mendez told Yahoo Sports. āHe talked to me about three weeks ago and told me of his plan and said he planned to talk to the team and inform them of his decision. Heās doing this for the right reasons. Heās a family man and he simply wants to spend more time with his family.
Will Khabib be in Islam Makachevās corner at UFC 284?
Mendez said heās not certain if Nurmagomedov will work lightweight champion Islam Makhachevās corner when Makhachev defends his belt on Feb. 11 at UFC 284 against featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski.
Makhachev has been training in Dagestan with Nurmagomedov for the Volkanovski fight. Mendez said he wonāt see Makhachev until Jan. 20 when he flies to Perth, Australia.
Nurmagomedov shared a post via his Instagram story from the account za.khabiba which translated from Russian read, āKhabib is leaving the MMA industry. Itās about coaching and everything else related to MMA. The reason is Khabibās desire to devote more time to his family.ā
If Nurmagomedov leaves the sport for good, it would be a significant loss given his ability to teach the sport and communicate with fighters. He has long had a great eye for the sport and was able to break down fights like few others.
He also grappled regularly with his fighters and Mendez said that helped all of them improve greatly.
āKhabib learned so much from his father [Abdulmanap, who died in 2020] and from me and some of the other great coaches he worked with, and his guys have learned so much from him,ā Mendez said. āHe instilled the things he learned from his father in the new generation and you can see the impact.
āIs he going to be missed? Absolutely. Will it negatively affect the team? That remains to be seen, but given what a great job heās done coaching his cousins and the others on the team, I think theyāre ready to move forward and continue his legacy.ā
Yeahā¦ shitā¦ the war really fucks things up for him. Hopefully heāll find a way to get back to where he belongs. Hereās the thing. Can you imagine Khabib raising his children OUTSIDE of an MMA/sambo/wrestling context? I canāt. Itās the relationship he had with this dad. Itās the relationship his dad had with every other young person that Khabib knew. Khabib was born to fill those shoes. I have a hard time believing he can truly walk away. So I donāt think this is the last weāve heard of Khabib. I think heās just going off the radar for a while. Guarantee heāll be back with the next generation. This war wonāt go on forever.
As much as Iām a fan of Khabib in MMA, Khabib himself no doubt loves the sport but the impression Iāve gotten is that he felt imprisoned by the restrictions it put on his life as in dieting, his time and devotion even as a coach ect. and he never really wanted to be famous, just the best at what he did which lead to him becoming famous as he said in a video I posted in this thread. He felt sorry for famous people because he values his privacy so much.
Having said that, there was a video of him training in his village today that his friend posted saying you can take Khabib out of MMA but not MMA out of Khabib. I think heāll probably come back to coach again as well when his kids get a little older after heās spent more time raising them.
Islam taking the LW belt was actually the last time Khabib has been in the corner of one of his fighters (not just as a spectator), and I feel like he did that as something he owed his father. It seems like the natural progression of things that heāll come back to the sport because then heāll finally be making the decision himself as opposed to feeling like had to do it out of obligation.
Khabib says himself he has no problem making money, just being famous. Itās got nothing to do with the west though. I wouldnāt say he lives in excess either unless weāre talking about food.
Im a bigger fan of Khabib the person than i am Khabib the fighter.
He is great, dont get me wrong. But being alive for a while and seeing fighters careers from start to finish, i really appreciate longevity in pro sports.
Its rare, and for good reason.
Andre Arvloski for example. I think staying around and being top ten in the world for so long is more difficult than fighting 17 bums, 12 solid guys and then retiring.
Training takes its toll. You have to be very mentally strong as well as a strong passion for fighting to stick to it.
Khabib cant stick to it. No sugar coating. He is built to sprint and travel short distances. He isnt durable to last.
Great person.
Solid fighter.
Wish he wouldve fought longer.
Wish he wouldve coached longer.
The most dominant fighter round to round over 29 fights in MMA history
The most dominant coach statistically in MMA history
Devoted 30 years to the sport
Is filthy rich
Khabib would have kept winning as much as a coach as he would a fighter but the reality is heās incredibly wealthy and doesnāt need to be a prisoner to this game if he doesnāt want to be.
Me either. Khabib will have no legacy as a result. I respect the guy but itās clearly about making money and getting out. Again I canāt knock that but he gives nothing at all back to his fans. Donāt even know how he has any